A custom software quote prices a particular piece of work. To compare two quotes, you need to see what each one includes, what your team must provide and what is still unknown. There is no universal price that can answer those questions for your business.
Two quotes can describe different jobs
Imagine asking two suppliers for a system where staff submit requests and managers approve them. Both proposals might call it an “internal request system”. Read a little further and the jobs can look quite different.
The following proposals are fictional. They show how scope changes the comparison, without suggesting a price or describing a LINK-V client project.
Proposal A: submit, approve, export
Staff submit a request. A manager approves it. Someone exports the approved requests and enters them in the existing business system. Your team supplies clean starting data and arranges where the software will run.
Proposal B: handle more of the process
Staff can correct rejected requests and submit them again. Different roles see different information. Approved requests pass to an existing system through a connection. The proposal also includes agreed import checks, deployment and a defined support arrangement.
If A costs less, that could simply reflect less work. It might be exactly what you need if a manual export is acceptable and your team can run the software. If the business needs everything described in B, compare what it would take to add the missing work to A.
The useful starting question is: what must people be able to finish with this software? Then check whether each proposal gets them there.
Follow the work past the happy ending
“A manager approves a request” sounds straightforward. What happens when the request is incomplete? Can the manager send it back with a comment? Who can change it, and does someone need to see its history?
Those answers describe work that someone has to build and test. A screen count alone will not tell you how much is involved. Nor will a user count: many people may share one simple role, while a smaller group may need several different permissions and decisions.
Look at the places where the new software meets something else, too. A connection to an existing system needs an agreed way to exchange information. Old records may need cleaning or checking before they can be imported. The people using the software may need it to work on different devices. Each requirement can change the job being priced.
For every unknown, ask who will find the answer, what information or access they need, and when the finding will change the estimate or require a decision. “We will sort it out later” leaves both the work and its price open.
The GOV.UK guidance on understanding a problem before building offers useful reasoning here: investigate users, the wider process, constraints and risky assumptions. Applied to a quote, that means finding out enough about the difficult parts to describe what is being offered. The government’s process is not a required model for a private project.
Ask what the number actually commits to
An early estimate and an agreed price for a defined job answer different questions. A proposal should make that difference easy to spot.
An early estimate
A view of the likely cost based on what is known so far. Read the assumptions beside it. Ask what still needs investigation and when the estimate will be revisited.
A fixed, scoped commitment
A price tied to agreed work and conditions. Check the deliverables, exclusions, your responsibilities and what counts as finished.
A change decision
A decision about work that differs from the agreement. Ask how the effect on price, timing and acceptance will be explained and agreed before the change goes ahead.
These are practical distinctions for reading proposals, rather than legal definitions. Different projects can use different commercial arrangements. The GOV.UK contracting guidance recognises several approaches and explains why incomplete information matters when choosing one. It does not establish a single right contract for every business.
Put the proposals beside the same requirements
Before choosing, ask each supplier to answer the same short set of questions:
- What can people complete? Include the normal process and the corrections, rejections or other exceptions the business needs.
- What is included and excluded? Check connections, data preparation and import, devices, deployment and any work left to your team.
- What are you expected to supply? Name the data, system access, decisions and people needed, and agree when they will be available.
- What is still unknown? Record the assumption, who will check it and what happens if the answer is different.
- How will you agree that it is finished? Describe what will be checked, who will check it and how corrections will be handled.
- What do you pay for after launch? Clarify hosting, licences, maintenance, support and later changes, including who provides each one.
You can then see whether the quotes cover the same required outcome. If a difference matters, ask for it to be explained or priced before treating the totals as comparable. You may choose a smaller job. Make that a deliberate choice about what the business can work with.
If you want to discuss custom software for your business, we can talk about the work you need it to do. Scope, price, hosting, support and other commitments are agreed for the particular project.
Questions before you accept a quote
Can we get a useful price before every detail is known?
An estimate can help with a budget if its assumptions and unresolved questions are clear. Ask which findings could change it and when those findings will be reviewed. A fixed commitment needs an agreed description of the work and its conditions.
What must match before two quotes are comparable?
Start with the outcome people need to complete. Then compare included work, exclusions, responsibilities, unknowns, completion checks and ongoing costs. Similar project names can cover different jobs.
Are hosting and support included in the build price?
Check the proposal and agreement. Ask who runs the software, what help is included, how long any arrangement lasts and what is charged separately. The build price alone does not answer those questions.
